M.A.S.H. – Suicide Is Painless lyrics

M.A.S.H. – Suicide Is Painless lyrics

Through early morning fog I see
Visions of the things to be
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...
[Refrain]:
That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please.
I try to find a way to make
All our little joys relate
Without that ever-present hate
But now I know that it's too late, and...
[Refrain]
The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
So this is all I have to say.
[Refrain]
The only way to win is cheat
And lay it down before I'm beat
And to another give my seat
For that's the only painless feat.
[Refrain]
The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger... Watch it grin, but...
[Refrain]
A brave man once requested me
To answer questions that are key
Is it to be or not to be
And I replied 'oh why ask me? '
[Refrain]
'Cause suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please.
... And you can do the same thing if you please.

Lyrics taken from /lyrics/m/mash/suicide_is_painless.html

Songwriters: Johnny Mandel, Michael B Altman

Suicide Is Painless lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Unregistered 2023-01-05 19:02:13

The song at first seems out of place as the theme for MASH. The show is about people caught in an unbearable situation. They work to sustain and preserve life amidst the insanity that is war and in service of the military machine which created it. This creates an existential dilemma. They each try and cope with it in their own way as there are no answers. They are powerless to stop the circumstances forced on them by the reality of existence.

I try to find a way to make
All our little joys relate
Without that ever-present hate
But now I know that it's too late,

To opt out the only choice is suicide to end their own suffering. Yet they do not choose suicide and accept suffering in its place.

I can take or leave it if I please…

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Unregistered 2022-11-15 08:10:37

The words talk about the various unbearable things that may happen to one in their life especially as one ages and the end stage of life and all the things that naturally occur that sucks the life out of us til death. It expllains that at any point in life based on dire circumstances involving great pain one may "take it(the pain) or leave it(commit suicide). The song relates that the person stating these words can commit suicide if they ever feel it is the most desirable outcome of a horrendously painful and terminal situation knowing that various forms of suicide are so quick that they are "painless" and afterwards it is also obvious that nonexistence is also painless. It appears this person will at some point choose the time of their death rather than let life dictate it. This is stated in the lines "The losing card I'll someday lay So this is all I have to say.The only way to win is cheat And lay it down before I'm beat". In other words check oneself out before any unbearable pain or situation that will also equally assuredly also come to the end result of death. The lines explaining how life goes as we live & age reminds me of the line "as soon as we're born we start dying".

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